Prostaglandin E1 administration post liver transplantation and renal outcomes: A retrospective single center experience.

Background: Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), or alprostadil, is a potent vasodilator that improves hepatic blood flow and reduces ischemia-reperfusion injury post-liver transplantation (LT). However, the benefits of PGE1 on renal function after LT have not yet been well described.

Aim: To assess the impact of PGE1 administration on renal function in patients who underwent liver or liver-kidney transplant.

Understanding preferences of general educators for supporting classwide behavior.

Innovations, such as novel evidence-based practices, are not likely to diffuse to practice without explicit effort and design (Rogers, 2003). In an effort to understand how interventions should be designed to meet teacher preferences, the present study utilized a full-profile two-alternative forced-choice experiment to examine teacher preferences when selecting a classwide intervention to address student disruptive behavior. Attributes and levels for the experiment were derived in response to four characteristics from Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory.

Working memory moderates the association between early institutional care and separation anxiety symptoms in late childhood and adolescence.

Adverse caregiving, for example, previous institutionalization (PI), is often associated with emotion dysregulation that increases anxiety risk. However, the concept of developmental multifinality predicts heterogeneity in anxiety outcomes. Despite this well-known heterogeneity, more work is needed to identify sources of this heterogeneity and how these sources interact with environmental risk to influence mental health.

"It's so Cute I Could Crush It!": Understanding Neural Mechanisms of Cute Aggression.

The urge people get to squeeze or bite cute things, albeit without desire to cause harm, is known as "cute aggression." Using electrophysiology (ERP), we measured components related to emotional salience and reward processing. Participants aged 18-40 years ( = 54) saw four sets of images: cute babies, less cute babies, cute (baby) animals, and less cute (adult) animals.

Repetitive behaviors in autism are linked to imbalance of corticostriatal connectivity: a functional connectivity MRI study.

The neural underpinnings of repetitive behaviors (RBs) in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), ranging from cognitive to motor characteristics, remain unknown. We assessed RB symptomatology in 50 ASD and 52 typically developing (TD) children and adolescents (ages 8-17 years), examining intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) of corticostriatal circuitry, which is important for reward-based learning and integration of emotional, cognitive and motor processing, and considered impaired in ASDs. Connectivity analyses were performed for three functionally distinct striatal seeds (limbic, frontoparietal and motor).

Effect of exendin (exenatide)--GLP 1 receptor agonist on the thyroid and parathyroid gland in a rat model.

Exenatide or Exendin-4 is a 39-amino acid agonist of the glucagon like peptide (GLP-1) receptor approved for the adjunctive treatment for type 2 diabetes. Recent reports suggest that GLP-1 agonists may also have distant effects including C-cell thyroid hyperplasia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of exendin-4 on the thyroid and parathyroid cells in a rat model.

Reactive oxygen species-activated p38/ERK 1/2 MAPK signaling pathway in the Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG)-induced CCL2 secretion in human monocytic cell line THP-1.

Background And Aims: CCL2 plays an important role in mycobacterial infection by inducing leukocyte recruitment and activation. Here we assess the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the secretion of the CCL2 and the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) by human monocytic cells infected with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG).

Methods: CCL2 mRNA and protein expression were measured by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative PCR and ELISA.

Treatment with omega-3 fatty acids but not exendin-4 improves hepatic steatosis.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of chronic liver disease in the Western world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and histological effects of omega-3 fatty acid and exendin-4 treatment on NAFLD in an animal model.

Methods: Sixty-three 8-week-old outbred Sprague-Dawley male rats were used for this study.

Predictors of hematological abnormalities in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon and ribavirin.

Hematological abnormalities including neutropenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia are commonly seen in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. The aim of this study was to identify factors which would help to predict the development of hematological abnormalities in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. During a 4-year period, all patients with chronic hepatitis C started on treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin were identified.

Clinicopathological predictors to predict sustained viral response rates in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection.

Background: Treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains suboptimal, with the current pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin combination therapy providing sustained viral response (SVR) rates of 54 - 63%. The aim of this study was to identify clinical, laboratory and histological findings that can predict non-response to this treatment.

Methods: Medical records of patients who had completed PEG-IFN and ribavirin therapy for chronic HCV infection between December 2002 and November 2005 and had undergone a liver biopsy prior to starting treatment were retrospectively reviewed.

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-induced CXCL8 production is mediated through PKCalpha-dependent activation of the IKKalphabeta signaling pathway in epithelial cells.

Upon contact with airway epithelial cells, mycobacteria activate several signal transduction events that are required for induction of NF-kappaB-dependent chemokine gene expression. However, downstream signaling pathways, especially that of Ca(2+)-dependent protein kinase C alpha (PKCalpha), and in particular, the identity of the IKKalphabeta signal pathway for CXCL8 secretion in Mycobacterium bovis BCG-induced epithelial cells are still unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that the phosphoinositide-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) downstream signaling pathway is involved in M.

Mycobacterium bovis-mediated induction of human beta-defensin-2 in epithelial cells is controlled by intracellular calcium and p38MAPK.

Induction of human beta defensin-2 (HBD-2) by mycobacteria has been reported. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which mycobacteria up-regulates HBD-2 gene expression in epithelial cells remains poorly understood. In this work, we provide evidence that the induction of HBD-2 mRNA in response to Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by pretreatment with a cell-permeable BAPTA-AM, which chelates intracellular calcium.

Leptin, insulin resistance, and liver fibrosis in human nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background/aims: Data from animal models of fibrosis and fatty liver suggest that leptin may mediate the profibrogenic responses in the liver, but the association of leptin and liver fibrosis in human nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains undefined. We aimed at determining the relation between leptin and liver fibrosis in human NAFLD.

Methods: Human plasma leptin and several indicators of insulin resistance were measured in 88 NAFLD patients and matched controls.